


The Mystic Blue

by pansytheleia



Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Boarding School AU, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-21 18:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2478761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pansytheleia/pseuds/pansytheleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mostly un-beta'd but will be updated once I find someone who can help me with grammar. Also this is my first fic ever.</p><p>Send to St. George's Boarding School For Boys by his overly busy parents, Horatio finds himself confronted with the mystery of a school with a horribly bad reputation, whatever his roommate Archie Kennedy is hiding from him and compulsory sailing classes. </p><p>This fic will be vaguely following the plot of the actual TV series, but with a modern twist. Also this was named after a poem (bc i am actually a douche)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

> This it the first chapter though there isn't a shit ton of plot, I needed to add some background information you can't pull from the series. I hope the characters are not wildly OOC. I really have a hard time getting characters right.

He was old enough to know better but he still shed a tear when he climbed into the taxi. After all, this house had been his childhood home, even though it did harbour some bad memories. But who could say their childhood had always been safe and sound?  
Luckily, he also had had enough time to prepare himself for this goodbye since it had been rather evident to him for half a year now that his parents were going to separate and neither had seemed very keen on raising a teenage boy on their own. However much he tried he couldn't hate them.   
His father was too busy running his office and his mother had just started working at a neurological hospital again. Not that they had been extremely caring when he was still little, but that was apparently the curse of only-children with hard working parents. He knew he should be proud of them.   
While they were off teaching at universities, dissecting brains and curing coughs he had been at home with various nannies, at first, Au-pairs, later. Sometimes he had felt like he had never been welcome in this family in the first place. His dad had apparently only wanted an heir to take over the office, once he was too old to listen to people's pain in the knee but had invested too much into the business to sell it to someone else. If they only knew he was not interested in studying Med to look at rashes all day long and do prostate examinations. On the other hand he had had no clue what he actually wanted to do. For now he was only sixteen and knew little but this: He knew he had to go and the place his parents thought of destined for a- granted- bit socially awkward teenager was a stuck-up boys only boarding school in Portsmouth and he was about to transition in the middle of the year. He wondered how they had been able to cough up the money for it, since his father's office constantly needed to be mend here and there and despite the fact his parents both were physicians they weren't sensible with their money and threw it out on useless pleasantries. One could definitely not consider them wealthy. But this place he was about to live for the next three years certainly was for the wealthy: St. George's Boarding School and College for Young Gentlemen.  
He shuddered when he even thought about the ridiculous name- who called people “young gentlemen”? This either was some church run institution and he prayed it wasn't or he would be surrounded by little lords and earls learning ball room dancing. He was sure he was a horrible dancer, he didn't need classes to find out. 

None of his parents had come to wish him a safe journey or a goodbye. His mother had rushed off for an urgent brain surgery and his dad was off spreading cough drops and painkillers. They probably thought it had been sufficient to inform their offspring of his future home and that “everything will be taken care of”. They dealt with patients every day who just wanted to hear “everything will be alright” and later their relatives that “everything will be taken care of” that it had slipped their mind he was their son. Without a farewell he had taken his suitcases, he hadn't but spend half a day on filling. Only books made them heavy, books seemed to be his most priced possession. He had even tried to choose suitcases his parents wouldn't miss. They hadn't been on vacation since he was three so it was a bit difficult to find any luggage.  
He left their apartment alone. He forced himself not to look back. They could at least have had the decency to write him a note as good bye.   
He didn't look back a single time as the taxi left first their house, then their suburb behind. He got on the train just on time, right before it pulled out of Worth to head for London, then Portsmouth. The first time he looked back was when he watched the train leave the crowded station in Portsmouth. He sat down on his suitcase and waited until the train was out of sight., then he slowly picked it up and walked out. 

It had started to pour right when they reached the school's gates. He had thought it wise to take another taxi and it had proven to be just so. His parents had provided him with enough money to make sure he would get to the boarding school where he couldn't trouble them, so he could take all the taxis he pleased. The driver hadn't been exactly communicative, not that he cared much, but he was a bit nervous and could do well with some distraction.   
He tried to count objects, such as windows, because numbers had never failed to calm him, for a reason he couldn't explain, Their taxi came to a halt and the driver leaned in to operate a speaker. Horatio got to have a closer look at the school through the iron wrought gates: behind white stone fences lay a few yards of neatly trimmed lawn, framed by floral bushes he couldn't identify, He had never specially cared for flowers. A broad pebble road, which had quickly turned into a swamp of mud and puddles due to the rain, lead up to first a circuit with a statue showing a man in the middle and the school's name in brass letters and finally the school building itself. Well, he thought it was the main building because it was the tallest, standing at a few stories high and winged like a palace. It must once have been an impressive school but now it had turned gray and splotchy and was covered in ivy. He even counted five blinds less than windows. So this was it. 

“You can bring'im in but they're doing a … conference right now.”, said a voice through the speaker.   
“Alright.”, replied his driver and then turned to him. “I have to drop you off to get back to work, I'm sorry lad.” She closed the window again. “But I bet they'll take you in for a cup of tea.”   
It wasn't a nice feeling to be lost again, but what could he do?   
The taxi driver quickly dropped him off at a smaller house close to the fence along with his two suitcases and a warm smile, once she had received her fare.   
He tried to hunch under the roof to not get completely soaked since the earlier pour had turned into a heavy shower. After a bit of squeezing against the wall- who builds roofs you can't seek shelter from rain?- finally a person with an umbrella appeared out of the mist that had suddenly formed because of the humidity. Finally.  
It was an older man, average sized with a crooked but friendly face and gray, shaggy hair which clung to his head.   
“Aye, let's go inside, will we and warm up a little, it's some shitty weather you picked for arriving, lad.”   
Horatio only picked his suitcases and nodded with an absent mind.  
“I'm Matthews, the caretaker. You can come at any time if there's trouble... but there isn't anything a caretaker could help'em with at the moment.”  
Matthews lead them in a fairly quick pace straight through the school building and out on the other side. Horatio still managed to mess up his shoes by stepping in various pits of mud.   
He didn't really have any time to think about what Matthews said, he was occupied with trying not to bump his head on the umbrella- the older man unfortunately was shorter than him and everyone who has ever shared an umbrella with a shorter person knows this pain- and keeping up with the caretaker. Behind the school were three rows of completely identical blocks: smaller versions of the school, without wings, but equally run down. He started to wonder what eerie place this was: supposedly a boy's boarding school, obviously for wealthy families but why was everything raunchy looking? He didn't have much time to worry since Matthews pulled him inside the last house on the left.   
“Mr. Bracegirdle said it'd take'em some time so we thought we should let you settle in first,” he explained while taking one of the suitcases from him. “Mr. Hornblower it is, right? So let's look at your room, meet your roommate, after all you will be here for three years so you should start makin' yourself comfortable.” The man smiled at him and showed him up the stairs. Horatio froze, but. He hadn't lived with anyone, ever. Not even his parents, in a sense, given they had always been out working. He had had a few friends in school he had been close with but not as close as sharing a room for three years. He had hoped for single bed rooms and as much privacy possible.   
With wobbly knees they walked up narrow old stairs and down long, clinically white halls of endless rows of doors and doors and doors. Everything looked the same to him- maybe because he was worried and unfocused. Matthews finally stopped in front of a door named “Room Nelson”. At least this made Horatio smile a bit. Maybe it was a good omen his room was named after Horatio Nelson.   
“Alright, I guess you will be fine from now on, I have to look at some damn drainage in the cafeteria, they always act up when it's rainin' cats and dogs.” Matthews pressed the suitcase back into Horatio's hand and grinned at him compassionately. “I know it's never easy, is it, going to new places.” 

Horatio took a deep breath and knocked Nelson's door. Once, then twice to be sure. When there wasn't a voice to be heard he unlocked the door with the keys Matthews had left him. So this is home from now on?   
Home was a fairly big room of unpersonal white, a generic picture of stormy sea and dark, old fashioned furniture. Home had a window with a sill as broad as a bench and most of all, home had a horrible bunk bed with wasn't only narrow but also looked like it was as noisy as a Banshee. He put his suitcases down carefully, though he was certain no one was in. Otherwise someone might have answered the door. He was glad to be alone right now. He would definitely need his time to get used to this place.  
Apart from the picture it wasn't this bad, he decided. The window was nice and once he got closer to take a look out he noticed how close to the sea this school lay. Growing up at the seaside he would have horribly missed not being able to plunge into the cold sea at least once in summer. He was excited to see this view everyday, even though it was stupid. There was someone out there in this horrible weather, though. When he squinted he could make out a figure standing on a cliff looking out on the sea, just like him. Was it one of the staff or a teacher? Maybe even a student? Anyway they must be mad being out there right now. Since they had stepped into the dorm the weather had gotten even worse. A storm had set in, which shook the willows between the dorm buildings and made a horrifying howling screech.  
He tore his eyes from the figure and turned back into the room to unpack. Who knew when Mr. Bracegirdle- whoever had such a ridiculous name, then again who was he to point fingers?- decided to meet him or his roommate showed up. He definitely wanted to be ready when any of it took place.   
Turning back his eyes for a second met with the upper bunk. He blinked. Maybe he was not as lonely as he had thought?   
Right.   
There was a boy with unruly blond hair watching him from the bed with an open, sunny smile. He was still beaming when he said :”Welcome to Purgatory.”  
Horatio couldn't but stutter out a surprised “Hello.”


	2. Long time no see

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm back two years later. TWO YEARS. What can I say, apart from sorry?   
> Still unbeta'd. 
> 
> Follow more of Horatio's adventures at St. George's, this time, featuring the arrival of an old friend of none and an old enemy of some. Considering I try to follow the plot of the series somewhat I guess you can figure out who I'm talking about.

“Archie, Archie Kennedy.” He said as he jumped the last few steps down the ladder. “And you are apparently Mister Hornblower.”   
Horatio looked at him with a puzzled expression.   
“It says so on your luggage, you silly.”, Archie replied with a smile. “Don't stare at me like that.”   
He was right. The suitcases had once belonged to Horatio's grandfather who had served in the army, so they did indeed have the name “Hornblower” embossed on both sides. “My name is Horatio”, He said.   
Archie grinned at him and inquired, jokingly :”As in Hamlet?”, then crossed the room to get to the window. “Nice view, isn't it?”   
“Yes, yes it is.”, Horatio replied, confused by the sudden change of topic. He followed his roommate to the window, just to check if the figure was still out there. “He's gone.”, he whispered more to himself than to Archie, he sometimes had a habit of silently talking to himself- The man indeed was gone, almost as if he had only been imagination.  
“Who?”   
“There has been a man out, earlier, just there on the cliff.”  
Archie raised an eyebrow. “You know that's madness. No one would go out on such a storm.” Then Archie looked down Horatio's drenched clothes and added with a smirk: “Unless he's called Horatio Hornblower.”   
Horatio stared at the puddle that had formed underneath him and had to chuckle.   
“I'd say I'd lend you a dry uniform, but...” There was no need for Archie to carry on. It was easy to see that Horatio stood willowy at 6 feet, while Archie was not only a few inches shorter but had also broader shoulders.   
“Ah well, I can just dress in whatever I have, they won't expect me to wear a uniform five minutes after I dropped in, right?”   
Archie shrugged. “Hood and Pellew are a little picky on that matter, I don't think Mister Bracegirdle will mind, though. You haven't met him yet? I mean, judging by your state you were all dressed up with no where to go.”   
“They're having a conference.”  
“I know, there wasn't even class today, I mean not that I complain, quite the contrary, I got around two hours of calculus.” Both sat down on the windowsill. “I wonder how anyone can find a liking in that.”   
“I do.”, Horatio murmured. He wasn't ashamed of it but he had always been top of the class in Math- well, in a lot of subjects, actually. But he was no teachers pet. He just liked studying. Somehow knowledge got him excited and he had always been the kid who had been sad for a free snow day. Thinking back, that had probably been part of the reason the other students at his old school had thought of him as an odd egg.  
Not that he cared though.  
Archie did of course, frown at him, but Horatio felt it wasn't really meant derogatory. He had only known him for a few minutes, but somehow he thought he liked Archie. He didn't seem to be stuck up, had apparently some sense of humour, was oddly excited about having a new roommate and it took a lot of pressure off Horatio. Maybe the next three years wouldn't be as awful as he had thought?   
Unless Archie would turn out to be an axe-murder, but now Horatio was indeed being silly.   
“So, you'll probably be taking Advanced Maths, right? If you're going to be advanced in everything we won't share a whole lot of classes, I'm afraid.”   
When he received his schedule a few days ago, he had actually noticed how he had placed advanced in almost all his classes. Archie had placed advanced in some, but was overall a very average student. They did share English, in which both of them were advanced, and Geography, which they both were classed as average. Well, that was at least two out of seven. “Hell, we don't even share our foreign language course. How did you even think of taking French! I guess I don't even know anyone who's doing French. Seems like you will have to make it through class alone, Mister Hornblower.”   
Horatio hadn't given his reasons for taking French a second thought. French had just stricken him as a more universally useful language and his old school hadn't offered a Spanish course in the first place.   
“Wait a minute, maybe Clayton takes French. He's alright.”  
At least this was settled and Horatio was relieved to at least have some people in his class that were 'alright'. He chatted a bit a long with Archie for a while, which was mainly Archie chatting and him storing his belongings and changing into something dry. At first he felt a little odd taking off his jeans with someone else in the room, but it wasn't different from chaning before PE lesson, so why making a fuss of it? Archie noted he was looking uncomfortable and turned with a chuckle.   
He learned that Archies parents both were embassadors and that Archie had “not the faintest idea” where in the world they currently were. Oddly it made Horatio feel understood. Apparently it was common to store your children here while going about business. Archie told him that his family was originally Scottish, but he had been living in London for most of his childhood and later spend some time abroad in South America.   
“Really, my family is everywhere.”, Archie added with a soft smile, after having told his older brother was currently attending an Ivy League school in the states. “Someone could be in China right now and I wouldn't even know.”   
Horatio hoped he would one day be as okay with this situation as Archie obviously was. Time would sure make him acustomed to it, sooner or later. When he checked his phone as he was done with putting books up in a shelf he noticed his mother had send him a message. 'Hope you arrived safely. Love, mum.' Without another thought he closed it and put his phone back into his pocket. Archie who had been sitting on the table watching him got up and straightened his shirt. “Are you quite done yet? Since once they started this conference won't be over for yet a bit we might as well go around … well, judging by the weather probably not campus, but the dorm if you like?”   
“But what if Mr. Bracegirdle comes for me and doesn't find me in my room?”   
“It's just a dorm, not the labyrinth of Crete. Believe me, Bracegirdle will find you without a problem. We don't get a whole lot of new students nowerdays, you'll stick out like like a sore thumb.”  
Now wasn't that reassuring? The only way Horatio wanted to stick out was by maybe being good in class, but certainly not by being labeled as the new kid. He wearily agreed. 

Now as he was walking down the same halls with Archie again, he noticed that they were not entirely white, but a little worn, and the effect of the massive lamp's cold light made them look unwelcoming. The floorboards might be a little creaky but the wood was surprisingly pristine and clean. He counted the stairs this time, to remember which floor they were on and which room was his. On the ground floor Archie started explaining again, showing him to some rooms, which were for studying, a pleasant medium one with old armchairs and wall height shelves full of books; there even was an open faced fireplace; one that had a ping-pong table in it, some boys who had rolled up their sleeves and removed their jackets were currently having a heated battle in and in the last room they met someone who was peacefully playing the violin to himself. It appeared to be a music room, it was another small study with a piano and some randomly scattered music stands.   
“Elias!”, Archie explaimed upon seeing the boy with the instrument. “I knew I would find you here.”   
Said boy immediately stopped playing and lowered his violin. “Archie. Hello,”  
Horatio thought it was a pity that Elias had stopped playing because judged by his limted knowledge of Classical music he had actually been quite good.   
“I've been looking for you, Elias!”  
Archie intruced his to him the musician, who turned out being Clayton, who he mentioned earlier. He was taller than Archie, but also skinnier, almost sickly looking, as if he hadn't been getting enough sleep. School was probably as stressful as outside of a boarding schoo, so Horatio understood.   
Elias Clayton stored his violin back into the case and collected his note sheets. “How do I get to that honour?”, he said with half a smile. Somehow he still looked weary.   
“French class. This is Horatio Hornblower, and you'll better be keeping an eye on him. I don't know what you are up to in there.”   
Clayton nodded to Horatio and said a polite: “Nice to see you, Horatio. But honesty, I don't know if you have heard the rumors, Archie, but it seems like the school might be losing our French exchange partners as well. So, of what use is learning it then?”   
“Wooing ladies?”, Archie proposed with a smile. “You are all welcome in Spanish, if you like to. In an all boy's school there's not much use in wooing ladies after all, I suppose.”   
Clayton smirked.   
That had been the last thing on Horatio's mind! Maybe he hadn't been here long enough, after all they were all just teenage boys going through puberty, penned in for weeks and weeks without seeing anyone. It might be a problem to some. Certainly not to him.  
“So, what have you been up to? A tour around the dorm?”   
“Exactly so. Showing Horatio all the great sights to behold. Care to join us?”   
Great sights to behold! Clayton shrugged and grabbed his case. He wanted to obviously make the best of his free afternoon, but maybe a new arrival was just a little more exciting than music exercise by himself. “Oh, before I forget, there is something I need to tell you, Archie.”   
Horatio's new room mate stopped halfway from his way to the door and turned around. “Sure, fire away.”  
But Clayton didn't. He just looked down to his feet and sighed. “I-”, then he stopped. Was this so hard to tell? Was it about Horatio being here? If so he could just leave it- But Clayton slumped down his shoulder and whispered:” Never mind, then.” Horatio didn't know if he should appreciate Clayton's efforts to not make him feel uncomfortable. Clayton placed a hand on his shoulder. “It was nothing. Have you been to the dining room? On a second thought, let's not go there until you have to. They don't call it 'Spithead' for nothing.” 

Since it was still raining and said place was in another building it was completely out of the question anyway. Instead they turned and opened the large glass doors on the other side of the hallway. They lead to the yet biggest common room, a place with a few seating areas, a pool table that was missing some balls but seemed to overall be in a great condition. At least the rug was looking new-ish and fairly comfortable and it seemed to have gotten a new coat of paint recently. The room was also not exactly packed and Horatio started to wonder where all the students were, since they hadn't seen a lot of them, and there had been a lot of dorm buildings on the campus. In the very corner, there were a few older looking students playing a card game and yelling at one another. Clayton seemed to know one of them, for he waved at them and then walked towards them. Horatio and Archie just followed suit. They did know Archie as well and acknowledged him with a brief not and some muttered hellos, but most of their attention was on Horatio, which made him uncomfortable. He had known prior that he would be getting noticed but he'd rather have some peace and quiet.   
“And whose ass did you forget to lick to end up here?”, one of them asked. He others roared laughing.   
“Pardon?”, was all that Horatio could say.  
“He's just new here. At school. Like we all are.”, Clayton said with a forced tone. The others continued laughing and just told him things like: “We were only joking” and, “Elias, maybe we'd like it more if we'd get payed to be here, like you.”   
“Payed?”, Horatio whispered to Archie while Clayton dodged a bullet for him.   
“Music scholarship.”, Archie answered. “You heard him play, he's quite good.”   
He had indeed been.   
“Alright then, new kid, are you any good at card games? You can join us, this is getting boring.” One of the boys then said, and something about his tone should have alerted Horatio. But who was he to judge someone by their cover. Also, he did like card games. What could possibly go wrong?   
Archie politely refused the offer. Well, mayne he just didn't like card games. The other boys made him some room on the couch and he nearly sank into it, when sitting down and he was not particularily heavy.   
“Are you alright with playing for a bit of change?”   
Clayton and Archie exchanged a worried look, but Horatio didn't notice.   
“If that's the practise around here...”  
He had still a little bit of changed left from the taxi earlier.   
He had been watching the boys while they had been talking to Clayton earlier and noticed a pattern in how they played. Of course he wasn't a specialist but he knew a few tricks here and there. For the first few rounds he tried to let the others win some small sums until-   
“Who have we here?” ,   
A sudden drop in the room's temperature hit them, someone had opened the doors and was walking down the carped in soaked boots. He stopped right beside them. Horatio turned to look up, to check if this was Bracegirdle, walking in on him playing card games, while he should be reporting to get his uniform. Instead it was a boy, not older than them, in a dripping overcoat and a smile that could only be described as sinister. “Aren't you happy to have me back?”. He lifted his arms, which send raindrops down the nape of Horatio's neck. Who was this guy? He wanted to protest, but the new arrival turned towards Archie. The rest of the players around the table stared at him in awe. Clayton looked down at his feet again.  
“Kennedy! Long time no see!”   
Horatio felt Archie tensing up next to him. “Jack.”, he whispered barely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If someone wants to beta these, come at me, really, I need it. 
> 
> This chapter did certainly not turn out as wanted but at least it's there. I try to keep up, I swear.


	3. Dead Man's Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horatio garners the wrath of Jack Simpson, which is something no one should apt for and finally goes to meet Mister Bracegirdle to become a proper student at St. George's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to AGoodFrog for checking my grammar! You are the best!

Even all the other boys stopped playing cards as soon as Jack Simpson had entered their circle. It was as if ‘fun’ wasn’t allowed anymore.  
“Seems like you can’t get rid of me that easily, can you?“ Simpson said in a cheerful tone, but no one dared to laugh. When Horatio studied his face, he found that Jack seemed almost pleased about their obedience. Rid of his soaked coat, he took place at one of the larger sofas, having the other boys make room for him, like Moses dividing the Red Sea. He made himself comfortable naturally, while the others shuffled and squeezed in order to not fall off the seating. Why were they doing that? This Jack-person was no different from them, was he?  
“Oh, Archie, my boy, how have you been?“  
All eyes were now on Archie Kennedy and everyone seemed relieved the pressure was not on them. Archie on the other hand, was visibly uncomfortable and Horatio felt horribly sorry. Archie was pressing his lips together to the point where they became just a narrow line. He did not reply. Instead, he just seemed as if he had sunken into himself, to make himself as small as possible.  
“I thought so,“ Jack said in a low growl. Archie flinched, which made Horatio straighten up, clench his fists until his knuckles became white and try to make himself as visible as possible, while everyone else just wished for the opposite. It worked.   
Jack turned towards him and demanded, “And who is this stranger in our midst?“ Small puddles started forming at Jacks feet, which he didn’t seem to mind. The carped was sucking most of them up, but traces of mud remained.  
“Horatio Hornblower.“  
“What an infernal piece of luck,“ one of the other boys muttered, but Horatio had heard him introduce himself as Cheeseman before, so it was up to debate which name was worse.  
“Mister Hornblower. Fine.“ After a small pause Jack added, with a smile, ”I wish you a pleasant stay and hope we will get along well.” He might have tried to say the words as kindly as possible but meant not one of them honestly, Horatio knew without knowing him any further. This guy would give them a hard time, he was sure of that. He decided to remain polite and answered with a vague, “My pleasure.”  
“Well then, I guess we can continue playing cards. Mind if I join, Horatio?”  
Since everyone seemed to be relaxed again, Horatio couldn’t argue with the offer, apart from the fact that he had had a pretty good hand and a sure win.  
The deck was reshuffled, cards were dealt and Horatio played a few mediocre rounds of neither losing nor winning a considerable amount of money.  
“One round ‘till,” Jack anounced and it was fine with all of them. “This is getting boring.” It seemed like they wanted to get as far from Simpson as possible, anyway. But was it just getting boring because the stacks of coins in front of Simpson were shrinking by the second? Well.  
Cheeseman shrugged and passed them their final hand. His hand wasn’t awful nor outstanding, but soild to work with. He glanced into the faces of his opponents, of which most remained fairly calm. Jack pursed his lips but showed no further reaction.  
Horatio let the others win the first two, three sets of cards, to loosen them up, get reckless and throw most of their leftover change in. Jack seemed to be especially daunting. Horatio had been counting the cards along in his head; it was just a habit of his; so if he was right about Jack’s hand, it wasn’t even that good. So he was either unfathomably stupid or a very bold player. Since they were all afraid of him, probably the latter. Maybe it had worked out before. They only had about three cards left on their hand and the ones already played this round all hinted at the fact that Horatio was maybe going to get the win this time, and if he was right, the next two rounds as well… Jack put in some cards that weren’t even that good, neither was Hether who went after him. Horatio was the last one this round, added his cards without a word and waited for a reaction. The reaction followed, but not as intended.  
Jack shrugged and reached for the money, even after someone else coughed and whispered, ”I think you lost, Jack.”  
Jack didn’t seem to understand, or didn’t seem to mind. He started piling 'his’ money up in front of him, Horatio noticed he had a very tacky ring shaped like a skull at his right hand index finger.  
“Yes, you did,” Horatio finally spoke up. “I won this round and the next two till.”  
The effect was immediate: Jack’s hands froze, and he - still cuppng the money protectively - was staring at Horatio with wide eyes. “That’s not possible, how can you know our… You seem to know too much about this game.”  
“But he’s right,” Hether said with a small voice and the others nodded reluctantly. Jack rolled his eyes and with a swift motion of his hand sent the coins flying across the table. “Fine then. I still think you cheated.”  
Horatio knew this was meant as an insult but didn’t want to start beef with the other boy, so he just calmly shovelled the money into his pockets, got up and left them with a “I think I should go look for Mr. Bracegirdle then. Have a nice free period.”

He just hoped Archie and Clayton would follow him. He would dread leaving them with an upset Simpson. Who knew what he was up to? But Clayton and Archie stayed and he walked out alone. He stepped out of the dorm, flicked the collar of his coat up, and walked towards the gates again. Maybe Matthews was still there and could show him to the administration building.  
He would rather wait there than in the company of Jack Simpson.  
Unfortunately, it was still raining cats and dogs and since he had no umbrella he was getting wet to the bone. Maybe as wet as Simpson had been, or the person on the cliff. Who, on a second thought, could have been Simpson. But what was his business out there? Horatio couldn’t think of any reason, so he just settled for a 'being mad beyond belief’. It seemed plausible. He rang the bell at the gates again, but this time, no voice answered the speakers and the caretaker didn’t show up anywhere. What sort of conference were they having? It started to seem as if there where just no teachers around. Maybe this wasn’t even a school. He looked over to the other buildings, but since none of them had 'Administration’ written all over it, he decided to just walk towards the main building. There had to be someone here who could tell him where to go. In a stark contrast to the solitude of the surrounding area, the main building was buzzing like a beehive, as Horatio found out as soon as he had entered. It looked like any other school he had been in before, apart from the fact that instead of pupils everywhere looking busy, this time, apparently, the entire teaching staff was running around like madmen. He heard shouting from some room down the corridor, and soon had to jump out of the way of a man who came rushing from said room. He was infuriated, nearly fuming and when nearly crashing into Horatio only barked a “Where’s your uniform?”, but didn’t even wait for an answer and just left the building.  
What had that just been? What was going on here? Was this their idea of a conference? Horatio had never been in one, obviously, neither had his parents ever gone to teacher-parent-conferences, but he had imagined it being adults sitting around a table discussing civilly and well-mannered. Apparently not in this school. He waited until anyone else noticed him, but apart from that angry men, no one seemed to mind him. So after a while he took matters into his own hands and stopped one of the running men. He seemed puzzed at first. It had taken Horatio quite some confidence to get noticed, so he found himself nearly stuttering an “Excuse me, uhm, do you, uhm, sorry for disturbing you, but where is Mister… Bra-”  
“Bracegirdle, yes? Down that hallway there. Second on the right.”  
Now that had been surprisingly easy.  
He read the label just to be sure and his name sign did say 'Anthony Bracegirdle, guidance counselor, administration.’ So at least Horatio was right. He knocked..

“Come in!”  
And so Horatio did after straightening his clothes. He must look miserable, he thought, wet and lost. This was the second pair of clothes he messed up today.  
Mr Bracegirdle’s office was a small room, but nevertheless very cozy. It seemed like the heater was on too high, the air was toasty, but Bracegirdle didn’t seem to mind. He was sitting behind a massive desk, which took up half of the room, underneath a framed motivational quote. Mr. Bracegirdle himself was a ruddy faced man in his early fourties, well-rounded and with an apologetic, yet welcoming smile. He took off his reading glasses as he focused Horatio and before he could speak a word said, “You must be Horatio Hornblower and I am terribly sorry I left you waiting for so long. I was just about to send someone to fetch you. Sit down, boy! Would you like a cup of tea? With this horrible weather outside you must be freezing. Take off that coat, you can hang it over there.”  
It was certainly woeful outside, so Horatio accepted. Mr. Bracegirdle poured him a cup, then cleared his throat and gestured at a chair in front of the desk.  
“You see, we had a recent change of staff and schedule in the middle of the school year, and headmaster Hood isn’t getting any younger, I’m afraid, so we are currently caught up in some… fuss and hassle. But nothing to worry about,” he folded his hands, “Nevertheless, I hope you had time to settle in yet.”  
Horatio nodded, even though he was very confused as to what to think of it all.  
“Fine, fine.” Bracegirdle moved a miniature ship in a bottle from one side of the table to the other, then thought of something and added, “We are trying our best to keep this ship afloat. Anyway, Mister Hornblower, I talked to your mother a week ago, and hope you received your schedule yet, did you? Good. What we talked about was a change in our classes, but she assured me you would only benefit from this program. So beginning next week, we decided to reintroduce our compulsory extra-curricular activities again, since we once again have enough staff to carry three extra classes. We decided our pupils and by that the school spirit would only grow from it. Unfortunately we had to stop offering the programm five years ago, but now is just the time to take it up again, to wrap things up, we are bringing back three sports classes to give the pupils a possibility to meet outside of the general classroom. These three classes will be fencing, sailing and archery; three wonderful opportunities, don’t you agree?”  
Horatio was struck when Bracegirdle asked him for a reply because in his mind he had been occupied with the question why his mother, of all people, had thought he would benefit from meeting with other people. He was after all more of a solitary person. Then again, that was probably how she came to think it would help him.  
“You don’t need to make up your mind right now, there will be a public introduction to all of the students this week and you will have till Friday to decide, so no need to hurry, but I thought I should inform you about this, since you are here after all.”  
Horatio nodded. He decided to ask Archie and Clayton about their thoughts on this matter later on. For the rest of the meeting Bracegirdle told him about lunch hours, whom to talk to (him) if there was any problems, where to find what, when classes started, ended, when there was some silent study time, when the library opened, and that he would get his uniform when he had decided on a compulsory activity. Apparently, headmaster Hood had decided to include a little coloured band on the uniforms indicating which sport the students had chosen. In Horatio’s head this didn’t lead to people meeting new people but rather the formation of groups based on which sport everyone was doing, but he had no degree in education. This was for someone else to decide. For the rest of the week he was expected to walk around like a civilian, while everyone else was looking the same? He could have as well just tattooed 'New Kid’ on his forehead.   
“Don’t you just have any uniform I can wear for now?”  
Bracegirdle looked at him and hummed. “Well, I’m afraid most of them are already about to be changed according to the new colour scheme. And I could only offer you one with the new bands around the cuff and- I don’t want to hurry you into chosing something just yet, maybe you would like to read up on the programm before?” Mr Bracegirdle searched for some brochures in a drawer nand passed them to him, but Horatio didn’t need to look at them to tell his decision. He had made up his mind already. With his love for swimming there was really only one possibility. Also, he thought, maybe sharing the room Nelson with Archie had been a sign.  
“I’ll take sailing, sir.”


End file.
